Val茅rie Costanzo has a bachelor鈥檚 degree and a master鈥檚 degree in law from Universit茅 de Montr茅al (2015; 2020). Member of the Quebec Bar since 2016, she has practised mainly in family litigation. This orientation was inspired by her experience as a child and adolescent going through several divorces. She soon imagined using both her personal baggage and her professional background to support families in difficulty. She was called upon to represent spouses, but also children. Her experience in the field made her aware of the practical difficulties of access to justice for families. It was her willingness to find solutions to those difficulties that led her to do a master鈥檚 degree under the supervision of Pr. Alain Roy. Her master鈥檚 thesis focused on the failed efforts to establish a unified family court in Quebec.
Alongside her studies, Val茅rie was hired as a research assistant on the project Acc猫s au Droit et 脿 la Justice (ADAJ), directed by Prof. Pierre Noreau, where she coordinated and carried out research in the field, to the syndics of the Quebec Bar and the Quebec Chambre des Notaires. In addition to her research, she is a lecturer at the Faculty of Law of Universit茅 de Montr茅al as well as an advisor to the Institut qu茅b茅cois de r茅forme du droit et de la justice. After a contract as scientific coordinator of the Center for Research in Public Law (CRDP), in September 2020 she undertook a doctorate at the University of Ottawa under the supervision of Prof. Emmanuelle Bernheim, who specializes in accessibility to justice and interdisciplinary research methodology.
Val茅rie鈥檚 doctoral thesis will present an ethnographic study of children鈥檚 voices in courts, as articulated by their attorneys. It poses the following question: what is the role of the child鈥檚 lawyer in giving value to the child鈥檚 knowledge in relation to his own history and legal experience, to promote his access to justice? She plans on studying the practices of child attorneys in Quebec and in Ontario.
Her thesis committee is composed of Professor Mona Par茅 and Professor Robert Leckey, respectively professor at the Faculty of Law of the University of Ottawa specializing in human and children鈥檚 rights & dean and professor at the McGill University Law School specializing in Constitutional Law and Family Law.